By William C. Shelton

When Tony Pierantozzi became Somerville Public Schools Superintendent in July 2005, he brought the practice of preparing detailed, one-year improvement plans.  To enable effective management, the plans to identify the individuals responsible for carrying out each objective.  To ensure accountability, the objectives are measurable, quantifiable, and have completion dates.  Two examples are on the SPS‚Äôs Web site under departments, click on School Committee and then goals.

Major changes within a complex organization require multiple years to
accomplish.  Examples in Somerville schools would be creation of a
volunteer program, parental involvement initiatives, expanded foreign
language instruction, and improvements to 7th and 8th grade
instruction. 

A communications office should be a conduit from which information flows to the people. But in Somerville, the vaudeville comedy team of Tom and Meaghan has chosen   to concentrate on trying to manage, and possibly even withhold, the news.

On too many occasions, the mayor’s press people have interfered with local news coverage. When news of an Assembly Square deal first started to stream out into the city, the Tom and Meaghan Traveling Vaudeville Show turned what should have been a triumphant moment for the entire city into a chance to manipulate the media. When The News asked if a deal had been reached at Assembly Square, Tom told us he didn’t know anything about it. Within five hours, the self and same sent a full press release proclaiming an Assembly Square agreement. And that morning, lo and behold, The Boston Globe reported on the story with the full cooperation of an office that did not know anything when The News asked. Coincidence? We don’t think so.

Sometimes the most bizarre overheard conversation can make the most bizarre poem. Just ask Somerville poet and publisher Gloria Mindock. Check out Gloria’s Cervena Barva Press at http://www.cervenabarvapress.com

SHE’S NOT A GOOD MOTHER, JOE

[AN OVERHEARD CONVERSATION IN A BOOKSTORE IN ARLINGTON]

When a baby bites you, forget it!
It’s dangerous cuz once a baby bites your
hand, you‚Äôre in trouble.  They can‚Äôt tell if your hurt.
If she lets that baby bite Joe—
forget it!  She‚Äôs not a good mother.
That’s dangerous cuz once that baby bites his
hand, infection will set in the skin.  That‚Äôs
dangerous cuz once that baby bites your hand,
you’re in trouble.
They can’t tell if your are hurt.

Once they get a hold of you, they bite you good.
It’s dangerous to have kids because they change.
They grow up ugly and mean.
They grow up with tempers and get mean.
The baby could turn around and hate your guts.
They get uglier all the time.
Them and their ways!

If she lets that baby bite Joe, forget it!
She’s not a good mother.
Babies are at the biting stage.
That’s dangerous cuz when a
baby bites you, forget it!

— Gloria Mindock

by David Taber

Alderman-at-large William A. White today told The Somerville News he plans to submit a proposal to the Board of Aldermen that will systemitize the proccess of calling special elections when elected city officials vacate their posts.  While the language has not been set, White said the proposal would require that the Board set dates for special elections within a month of an officeholder’s resignation.

Developing…

by Nuria Chantre

A local writer, storyteller, teacher and on-air personality spoke at The Somerville News contributors meeting held Jan. 18 at the Mr. Crepe shop.

“Everyone has their own way of writing. For me, what draws me in is
authenticity. It gives a sense of reality,”said Judah Leblang.

Born Bruce C. Leblang in Cleveland, Ohio, Leblang, said he writes
about personal struggles such as letting go of youth, adopting a new
name and dealing with skin cancer. “People seem to relate. They may
have different personalities, but they can relate,”said Leblang of the
creative process.

Before he made Somerville his home, Leblang, who holds a bachelor’s
degree in deaf education and a master’s degree in administration, lived
in Columbus, Ohio, he said.

by David Taber

Mapping out priorities was at the top of the agenda for the city’s official bicycle advocacy committee Jan. 16, when they held their first meeting of the year in the basement of City Hall.

“There are always more things to do than we have time for,” said Somerville Bicycle Committee chairman, Alan T. Moore.

The committee plans to map out a cross-city, on-street bike route to
run parallel to the future route of the proposed Community Bike Path
extension, and to explore strategies to promote bicycle riding as a
safe and healthy means for students to commute to and from school, he
said.

by George P. Hassett

Police broke up a drug deal between three women Jan. 16 in which 168 percocets were confiscated and a mother-daughter tandem arrested when they tried to buy the pills from a Dorchester woman.

Drug control unit cops were conducting a routine surveillance of the
Assembly Square mall parking lot when they spotted Kimberly Savini, 28,
of 11 Greenville St., and her mother, Carol Busa, 43, of 25 Juniper
Place, Lowell, parked in a remote section of the lot.